


Middleman

by justanotherStonyfan



Series: Three's Company [2]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Blindfolds, Consensual Kink, F/M, M/M, Restraints, Threesome - F/M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-02
Updated: 2014-03-02
Packaged: 2018-01-14 08:02:04
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,741
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1258945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justanotherStonyfan/pseuds/justanotherStonyfan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pepper and Tony introduce Steve to restraints.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Middleman

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [constant-instigator](http://constant-instigator.tumblr.com/) over on tumblr, who won my 10,000th post fic giveaway thing, and requested Pepperstony restraints smut from this 'verse. Thank your for joining in, showing interest and having so much patience :) Hope you like!

Steve liked this part, very much – the part where they took time to undress him with such attention and such luxurious laziness that he was itching to do something. He liked an awful lot, but he there were few things better than being eased out of his clothes like it was important to undress him slowly, being exposed inch by inch as though each inch was precious. And he knew it perhaps wasn't supposed to be this arresting, this consuming, that he wasn't supposed to revel this much in the careful tease of nimble fingers at closures that were designed to be resilient, or the firm, worshipful warmth of fingers on his skin, wasn't supposed to take so much without giving anything in return. But he still wasn't quite used to this yet.

“They really did a number on you,” Pepper said slowly, and yes, a number had indeed been done on him. But he was home now and that was pretty much the only thing on his mind. No, it was _completely_ the only thing on his mind - this whole thing was still new to him, overwhelming sometimes, and with his mouth currently occupied by Tony's, and with Pepper already kneeling behind him on the bed still in her navy blue skirt, white shirt and stockings, it was near enough to overwhelming now. 

Tony, of course, had been on him as soon as he sat down, straddling his thighs because he got a kick out of how thick Steve's thighs really were, out of just how much he had to spread his legs to accommodate them. Steve had held on to him, hands sliding down and back from Tony's hips and only noticed his hands were on Tony's ass when Tony shifted next. It made him feel surer, bolder, made him tighten his grip just to feel the flesh give under the charcoal gray suit.

“I...mmh...” Steve managed, aiming for between kisses and ending up just mumbling into Tony's mouth as Tony peeled his suit open at the front, closure by closure, inch by slow inch until he brushed Steve's chest with his fingertips. One day, Steve realized, he'd probably grow used to that kind of touch – that new thrill of someone _else's_ hands on his skin, someone else's “ohh,” hands in his hair, but he hoped it wouldn't be any time soon.

“I'm the one on top of you but _she_ gets the 'oh'?” Tony said, pulling away just enough to look down at Steve, heavy-lidded eyes sparkling so close to Steve's own that he was in danger of going cross-eyed. 

Steve wet his lips, some small part of him insanely proud when Tony's gaze flicked down to follow the movement, and his eyes fluttered closed as Pepper's fingers pressed a little harder against his skull. “Eyes on me, soldier,” Tony murmured, and Steve just about had time to register the order and follow it before Tony was kissing him.

The mild irritation at the conditioned obedience brought by Tony's well-timed orders came a moment later. “Mmph,” he said into Tony's mouth, and Tony chuckled against his lips, smoothing one calloused palm up over Steve's right pectoral, sensitizing the skin, and onto his shoulder to ease back the fabric there, doing the same for the other side a moment later. 

He might never get past how wonderfully in-synch with each other they were, but all thoughts of being a third wheel were driven out when Tony's hands slid up his neck and into his hair as Pepper's hands smoothed down, peeling the fabric back from his shoulders to work it down his arms. It meant he had to let go of Tony, arms behind him as she tugged the material down, and Tony only compensated for the loss of it by pressing himself closer, winding his arms around Steve's head, fitting his hips snug to Steve's as they kissed, chest to chest, stomach to stomach – Steve wanted skin on his skin instead of the expensive shirt that still covered Tony, but his suit had snagged around his wrists and wouldn't give, and he couldn't bring himself to pull away and say something about it. 

Tony kissed a lot of different ways, hard and fast and all teeth and tongue sometimes. And then there were times like this, his body moving slowly against Steve's, his hands threading through Steve's hair over and over, coaxing the sounds out of Steve slowly and carefully, the same way he could coax the pleasure out of him.

Pepper must have given up trying to get his hands out of his sleeves because he felt her mouth between his shoulder blades a moment later, her hands stroking up the sides of his ribcage and drawing warmth in their wake. 

Tony pulled away, laughing softly as Steve tried to follow, and he cradled Steve's head in his hands, thumbs resting against his cheekbones. “You're wearing entirely too much, darling,” he said, and Steve was about to tell him some approximation of the same thing when Pepper shifted behind him, moving aside as Tony readjusted his weight to look down at him properly. “Also, bruises,” he said a moment later, and Steve glanced down at himself with a small shrug. 

“Perks of the job,” he said quietly. He tilted his head up for another kiss but Tony didn't give him one, leaning back at little to frown at him. “I have something on my face?” he asked, and Tony winced.

“You mean besides the cut, there?” he answered, letting go of Steve's head with one hand to wiggle his fingers in the general direction of Steve's forehead. 

Pepper walked around them both – she must have gotten up, obviously – and out of his field of view again, and Tony looked over Steve's head and nodded before he was looking back into Steve's eyes again.

“Trust me?” he said, and Steve frowned at him.

“I trust you” he said, “why are you asking me this now instead of getting undressed?”

Pepper made a small noise of surprised approval and Tony's grin could have lit Manhattan. “I do so like that you're hardly afraid to ask for what you want any more,” he said. 

Steve tried to bring his hands back up, back onto Tony's ass to make his point, but he was still tangled in the suit and he huffed a breath through his nose as his hands came up short. “There are wrist closures,” he said eventually, tilting his head back a little to tell Pepper, and she laughed softly. 

“Ah. I'll remember next time,” she said. “You want help?”

And he thought about it for a second, looked at Tony and closed his eyes. “Yeah,” he breathed. “I think so.”

“Good boy,” Tony murmured, and he started to get off Steve a moment later, easing his legs off Steve's, moving his body away from Steve's. Steve wasn't entirely sure why he was getting praise, but maybe Tony was just stating something he thought was a fact. Steve might have corrected him if he hadn't been distracted.

“Where're you going?” he asked, and he wondered if it sounded as kind of pathetic to their ears as it did to his own.

“Relax,” Tony said quietly, pressing a kiss to his forehead. “We'll have you out of those pesky clothes in no time.”

Steve huffed a laugh through his nose, trying first to put his hands down and then to lift them in order or help or something, but it quickly became apparent that it wasn't going to work at all. 

“Here,” Pepper said, sitting next to him this time, as Tony knelt down in front of him to start untying the laces on his boots. “Let me get those sleeves.”

There was something just as nice about this too, maybe even a little exciting about it – naked, these days, he was almost used to. Dressed was just fine. But half-undressed made him just that little bit more aware of the skin that was already uncovered, just a little more as though what they were doing was illicit, gave him just that little bit more of a thrill.

Pepper very carefully eased his sleeve back up until she could reach his wrist, undoing the closure there to get his arm out, and he thought she might get up and go around to do the other one but she leaned over him instead, across his lap to reach his other arm. With one arm free, he would have been able to pretty much do it himself, but he wasn't about to tell her to move. Tony was busy with his boots and his socks, and Steve was really glad he'd been issued new ones of both when he'd reached base – before the decon shower, he wouldn't have wanted anyone he cared within about a mile of his feet, but he'd been given a change of socks, and had only walked maybe two hundred yards in these ones. Nobody would need a gas mask to contend with them.

When Pepper was done with his other sleeve, while Tony had successfully removed both boots and socks and decided that a calf-massage would do nicely (and wow, did it ever, sliding his hands up Steve's trouser leg to ease his fingers in little circles), she didn't get up. Instead, she lay across his lap and started kissing his stomach or something – which was all kinds of interesting – and it took him a couple of seconds to figure out that she was mouthing at the muscles there. Not just randomly, but finding each individual one and sliding her mouth over it, and he tipped his head back as he brought one hand up to the back of her head, closing his eyes.

“You know, this is great but it's not gonna work,” Tony said, and Steve chuckled, jostling Pepper a little, so she laughed too. He wasn't ticklish, which was just as well.

“Fine,” she said, pressing a loud, sloppy kiss to Steve's stomach, and then she sat up, stood up and wandered up to the head of the bed.

“Are you guys actually gonna-” Steve said, allowing himself to fall when Tony shoved him backwards to lie flat on the bed, lifting his hips when Tony pulled his trousers open and grabbed at the waistband to pull them and his underwear down, “-get undressed at all or-” Tony flung the clothes backwards and Steve winced as they took the small pencil-pot off the desk and onto the floor with them, “-is it just me?”

Pepper appeared over him, her hair falling down around him to tickle his throat and his forehead. “Scoot up the bed,” she said, looking amused, stopping to kiss him before she moved again, and he pushed himself up onto his elbows to look at them both, trying to ignore the fact that he was naked and they were not.

“Seriously, you're not getting undressed?” he said, and Tony started tugging at his tie.

“Maybe a little,” he said.

Pepper laughed. “I have already. I'm not wearing underwear,” she sing-songed by way of an answer, and Steve felt a hot rush of blood move downwards as she stretched her arms over her head.

“Do I get to see?” he said, clearing his throat a little when the words came out rougher than he intended, and Tony pulled his expensive silk tie out from his expensive shirt collar – the soft little rasp of fabric on fabric drawing Steve's attention – and he undid a few shirt buttons, which only made Steve more aware of how not-undressed they both were in comparison. 

“No,” he said, raking Steve's body with his gaze, running his tongue over his teeth, and Steve fought the urge to cover himself just for the sheer intensity of the look Tony gave him.

“Uh,” Steve said, and Pepper started rooting around in the nightstand drawer. “What? So are we not....”

Tony raised one eyebrow and stared pointedly at Steve's cock for long enough that Steve's fingers twitched. He didn't _need_ to cover up, this was _Tony_ , and _Pepper_ , but he still wasn't used to how shameless he needed to be for things like this, how quickly his confidence could recede just by losing a few layers of fabric. 

And yet, there was no denying – never had been really – the heat in Tony's gaze, or what it did to him.

Pepper set one foot on the mattress and hitched up her skirt, showing enough leg that Steve considered asking her if she wanted help, and then she rolled her stocking down her leg with an expression on her face that said she knew _exactly_ what it was doing to him. And really, he knew she did – if she were going to wear anything on her legs at all, she'd said once, it would usually be pantyhose. Stockings were for Steve's benefit. 

She did the other leg, too, just as theatrically, tugged her skirt back down when she'd finished, and sat down next to Steve's shoulders, scratching her fingernails through the hair on the top of his head.

“Hello, soldier,” she said, and he stared up at her, a little less unnerved by her tendency to look at his eyes instead of his...everything else.

“Hi,” he said, throat clicking, and he swallowed hard just as Tony laughed, low and throaty.

The mattress dipped by his leg and he looked down the length of himself to watch as Tony set one knee on the end of the bed, then the other, and then started to crawl up the length of him, black tie still in hand. He took plenty of time about it, too, until he was so close that Steve had to settle flat on his back again, until he was over Steve with a lazy smirk on his face.

“Trust me?” Tony murmured, and Steve thought that was a slightly strange thing to ask when he was lying completely naked in the middle of the bed.

“Of course I trust you,” he said. “That's the second time you've asked, what are you going to do?”

Tony kissed him so quickly that there was no time to kiss back before it was over, and then sat up, kneeling astride Steve's hips this time with the fabric of his suit trousers not even rough on Steve's skin – right now Steve was endlessly glad that Tony paid for such high quality material.

Tony held the tie out to Pepper, and she took it, Steve watched her. And then she handed something to Tony, something thin and black and-

“Oh.”

“Now you don't have to,” Tony told him, unwinding the cord to hold it looped between both fists. “But I thought you might like to.”

Rope. Huh. 

And as interesting as that could be, Steve was aware of two main things – the first was the implication of Tony with a cord like that, of what letting Tony tie him up or down or whatever might actually mean Tony wanted to do, and how strangely okay he was to let Tony maybe try this with him. It was definitely new, something that hadn't even really crossed Steve's mind before right this second.

The second thing, however, was that Tony wasn't the first person to tie him up. He was certainly the first to hold the cord with such a lascivious expression on his face, and the first to do it in a manner that Steve figured he might actually like as long as they were careful and went slow, but the muscle memory was there and it formed a small, hard ball of discomfort in the pit of his stomach.

Pepper must have seen something in Steve's expression, must have picked something up in his eyes – maybe the way his breathing had picked up or the way he hadn't blinked for too long – and she stroked his forehead, the side of his neck.

Tony frowned. “I can admit that sometimes I'm wrong,” he said slowly, lowering his hands a little in the universal gesture for _oh, okay, maybe not_ , and Steve shook his head minutely.

“It's okay,” he said, trying to unclench his jaw. “It's okay, I'm okay.”

“You don't sound very convincing, Steve,” Pepper said, and he flicked his gaze up to look at her. She was right, of course – he sounded more like he was trying to convince himself than them. But he still couldn't make up his mind.

“You're not gonna go anywhere, right?” he said, and she looked surprised that he was asking – maybe it was the wrong thing to ask. She looked at Tony, too, probably looking for confirmation or something.

“You know what?” Tony said, sounding contrite instead of irritated. “This was a bad idea, babe, I'm sorry, we can-”

“N-No, I...” Steve interrupted, a few images flashing in his mind's eye, things like black cord on pale skin, and kissing, and the same nimble fingers that had unfastened his suit doing other appealing things. “Can...I think about it?”

Tony settled his hands on his own thighs, the black cord strung between them and sagging enough that it brushed Steve's stomach. “Sure,” he said, “go right ahead,” and Steve did, he really did.

He wasn't so stupid as to think Tony would forever be satisfied with what Steve had heard him describe as _'Vanilla'_ to Bruce one time, but neither did he think that Tony would make him do something he didn't want to do. What he really had to figure out was whether or not this was something he wanted, and that was a little harder to get his head around.

Yes, first of all. He'd heard about tying people up, knew that fluffy-cuffing someone to a bedpost for Valentine's Day was fairly widespread these days apparently, and hadn't tried that kind of thing himself. It didn't really pose a threat given that he was fairly strong, but the idea of not being in control – of having someone else do whatever they wanted – certainly held a great deal of appeal. As it had done for a very, very long time.

But also no, because what could he possibly give back to them if he wasn't supposed to move his hands? He couldn't touch, couldn't give either one of them anything, it would all be taking, and that wasn't fair.

And then there was the other concern - what if there was an emergency? What if something went wrong?

But thinking about the problem gave him a solution; he knew they'd never hurt him, that they'd never take advantage and use him, that they'd never do anything to upset him or endanger him. And, if the worst came to the worst, they'd untie him, or he could break the rope-- Wait, he could break the rope, of course he could. Failing that, he could probably break whatever it was tied to, so long as Tony hadn't replaced the bedframe with adamantium without mentioning it, and that helped a little. 

But there was still the issue of _letting_ someone do this, however much of an illusion that kind of powerlessness might be, which meant that the whole thing depended on an issue he hadn't thought about – did he trust them _enough_ yet?

For a long time, he'd been _that sickly kid_ \- the one who was easy to shove over, easy to hurt, easy to break. And then he'd become the man who couldn't be moved, couldn't be killed, couldn't be broken. But then he'd found that you didn't have to break bones to break a man.

“I don't know,” he said softly, yes and no still warring in his head.

“Take your time,” Pepper answered, her voice gentle.

And it was strange – so strange. He _wanted_ to. He wanted to know how it felt, how it would make him feel, but he was lying naked on their bed, he'd be lying naked and tied up on their bed, and it didn't matter how much he knew they'd never hurt him. Part of him still knew that they _could._

“Don't leave,” he said eventually, and Tony shook his head.

“Of course not, Steve,” he murmured.

“One of the big rules,” Pepper said. “You don't leave someone tied up alone.”

“Unless you're a supervillain,” Tony answered and maybe it was to make Steve smile, but he didn't feel like smiling – not with an image like that in his head.

“Don't...uh...I mean, that's part of why...you know?” Steve managed, and Tony nodded.

“I know,” he said, and of course he did. “Here's how it works,” he said instead. “We tie your wrists to the headboard so that you're all stretched out for us to play with, we make you feel good for a while, and then we untie you and we go to bed.”

“No pain,” Steve said – a condition based on the fact that he'd had enough by now, enough that it made his bones ache a little to think about it.

“Steve,” Pepper said, and she sounded almost sad about it. “Steve, no, we'd never-”

“I know,” Steve answered, feeling his breaths come a little easier already. “I know, I just wanted...I wanted you to say it.” And didn't that sound crazy?

“Listen,” Tony said, letting go of the rope with one hand to stroke the side of Steve's ribcage, “we want to do this _for_ you, because you've never done it before and it's nice to let go sometimes, to let somebody else take charge. There's gonna be a whole lot of touching and kissing and a whole lot of other things we know you like, things that feel good.”

“We're not here to hurt you when you can't defend yourself,” Pepper put in. “We're not going to hurt you, we're not going to humiliate you, and we're both staying right here. All right? This is up to you.”

“It's not about pleasing us, and I know that's crossed your mind, don't even try to deny it.”

Steve screwed up his face a little. “Just my wrists,” he said. “And we can stop?”

“Whenever you want,” Pepper answered, stroking his forehead again. “All you have to do is tell us, say you've had enough. Or, y'know, break the headboard.”

Which...yeah, okay, he could do that.

He took a deep breath, wet his lips and looked up at Tony, stared up at Tony. And then he lifted his hands and held them out to Tony, trying to keep them steady.

A slow smile spread across Tony's face, pride and gratitude in with the lust that still lingered there, and he started to wind the cord around Steve's wrists. “I'm not making it tight,” he said. “You should be able to move them around when I'm done. I'll leave you some slack to hold onto, too, you'll be able to get out if you want.”

Steve nodded, trying to look more sure than he felt – ' _yes_ ' had won, ' _yes_ ' was always going to win, because he wanted them, wanted this. It was just that it was all so...new.

Tony, true to his word as always, didn't make the ropes tight at all, looping the cord around Steve's wrists so that there was enough slack that could have clapped if he felt like it, and then Tony wound the rope to cinch the cords between his hands. This way, it was more like the implication of rope than an actual restraint; he could pull his hands out of the loops if he wanted to, or he could let the loops take the weight of his hands.

“ _I'm_ the one who wants to blindfold you,” Pepper said quietly. “We want to take care of you. But you don't have to, we can save that for later. We can save that for never.”

And Steve watched as Tony tied off the rope to leave a tail between his wrists and settled Steve's 'bound' hands against one of his thighs. He flicked his gaze up to Pepper's and then back to Tony's.

He drew a long, deep breath, “I do trust you,” he said. 

“Good, baby,” Tony murmured, picking Steve's wrists up by the rope that bound them. “No offence meant to your state of mind, either, but we're gonna be asking you that a lot. Arms over your head.”

Slowly, although not-quite reluctantly, Steve did as he was told, lifting his hands until the were over his head, close to the headboard. Pepper took over then, tying them to something Steve hadn't seen – a hook or a catch or something – trust Tony to have one built into his headboard – and he tested the ropes a little, moving his wrists back and forth. There was a lot of slack between him and the headboard, and between his wrists, and he still could have pulled his hands from the loops if he chose. 

When Pepper leaned over him, Tony's black tie held between her hands like some kind of offering, he wet his lips, unsure again. 

“Your decision,” Pepper said, but he nodded a little. 

“It's okay,” he said, voice rough for a different reason now.

He closed his eyes as he lifted his head from the pillow, kept them closed as she tied the tie around his head to cover his eyes, kept them closed as she knotted it behind his ear. It made sense, Steve figured – that way the knot wasn't beneath the back of his skull when he put his head back on the pillows – but he didn't want to open his eyes under the black silk. Eyes closed was all well and good but he wasn't sure how calm he'd stay if he opened them and found himself blind. That would be a little too much like-

“Ah!” A hand against his side effectively derailed his train of thought.

“Sorry,” Tony said softly, “I'm sorry, it's just me, Steve.”

Steve chewed his lower lip for a second and nodded, drawing a deep breath to try and halt the tremor he could feel in his bones. He thought about lowering his arms to try and hide it, but they were tied over his head, making him vulnerable in the basest sense, cool air drifting over his skin from the air-con and doing nothing except proving how naked he was. 

Survival wise, this was a stupid thing to do. He had everything important bared to any potential threat – his face, the soft underside of his arms, his torso and all the vital organs. Not to mention his cock. If they wanted to hurt him, they probably could. Wouldn't, but could, and half of him wanted them to touch him, to drive him out of his mind with it, while the other half wanted clothes, a blanket, something, anything.

He'd been kept this way once or twice before – tied to a chair and beaten, chained to a wall and tortured, hung up by his wrists and left out to be _eaten_ on one occasion, with the understanding that said creature would go for the softest parts first. 

“Sweetheart, you're shaking,” Pepper told him and he knew that, he knew.

“I know, I...” he said, voice catching. “I'm okay....this is good, I'm okay, it's just...new, can you...can you touch me?”

“Mmm-hmmm,” she answered, as Tony's other hand settled gently on his other side, stroked long, warm lines up his torso with a heat that lingered, casing away the remembered. One of them, and really it had to be Tony, pressed a kiss to his torso, about halfway between his chest and his navel, and then the other – Pepper, it was just Pepper – ran her hand over his cheek, sank her fingers into his hair.

“J – A..R.V.I.S,” Steve managed past another shiver, “can you bring the, uh...the temperature...”

“ _Raising temperature by five degrees, Captain,_ ” and even _J.A.R.V.I.S_ sounded quieter, more sympathetic.

“Are you sure you're okay?” Tony asked, mouth almost against Steve's skin this time, thighs warm across Steve's hips, and Steve nodded – probably a little too enthusiastically, but better to be understood.

“Yeah,” he breathed. “Yeah, I'm...just...unless I say stop, okay? I want to do this.”

“All right,” Pepper answered. “It's okay.”

Tony moved, slowly and carefully, and Steve didn't need to see to know he was telegraphing his movements just as Tony didn't need him to see in order to do it – Steve knew Tony would shift before he'd even made to do so, and Tony eased himself back, moving down Steve's legs until his hips were well past Steve's cock, until Steve felt more exposed than he had with either of them so far. Legs held down, arms tied up, he knew what he must look like. He drew another deep breath, blew it out between pursed lips and squeezed his eyes shut a little more behind the blindfold, trying to use his other senses, trying to hear the shift of material over his skin, the minute crinkles of Pepper's crisp work-clothes. 

“You got a couple of bruises here, Cap,” Tony said softly, gentle fingertips tracing Steve's jaw, his flank, places Steve knew still held marks though they'd be gone by morning. And Steve _felt_ his muscles unwind a little at that, the knowledge that Tony really was paying attention.

He hadn't thought for a second that Tony _wouldn't_ , but getting actual confirmation was suddenly proving to be a lot better for Steve's state of mind.

“Tough mission,” he said in reply, because it had been,and he didn't trust his voice much further than that. 

The mission had been a disaster - he was supposed to have been following orders, and had found himself giving them instead, from the middle of a firefight. And then he'd found himself defending unexpected hostages in a fist-fight – it had not been fun at all. 

“Glad you're back,” Tony answered, trailing his fingers over the ridges of Steve's stomach, and lower. 

He wasn't taking things fast, and part of Steve really appreciated that. Pepper was still sitting next to him with one hand in his hair, and they seemed mainly to be just waiting except that “a-ah,” Tony's fingers trailed a little lower still, enough to tease.

Tony's fingertips were so light, so soft, so slow, and Steve felt a fool for the way the brush of Tony's fingertips through his _pubic hair_ made the muscles in his stomach tighten. 

“Mmh,” he said, before he managed to stop himself, shifting his shoulders against the pillow, tilting his head back a little as his neck grew warm.

“Yeah?” Tony said, and Steve turned his face into his arm, trying to hide his face as he opened his mouth to breathe.

Tony's hand shifted, open palm stroking the length of Steve's cock, root to tip, fingers curling around it as Steve felt it fill, and he didn't manage to stop the small sound that rolled up from the back of his throat.

“There you are,” Pepper murmured, her voice slow and quiet, and he was really, really glad for the blindfold – at least he couldn't see them this way.

But it didn't stop _them_ seeing _him,_ a fact he was doing his absolute best to ignore.

He wasn't fully hard yet, and Pepper wasn't doing anything but just _being_ there beside him, her presence and the heat he could feel from her body providing him with a certain amount of comfort. Tony was, as Tony seemed always happy to do, playing with Steve's cock – picking it up, stroking it minutely, just enough to keep Steve's arousal building without making it feel like a means to an end.

“That's it,” he said softly, “that's it, Steve.” And it should have felt strange that Tony was praising him for a reaction he'd induced himself, for something Steve had so little actual control over, but it didn't feel strange. It didn't feel out of place; it felt good, made something warm uncurl a little in his chest, made him want to do better just to hear Tony praise him again.

“You okay?” Pepper said, and Steve bit his lower lip and nodded, arching his back a little to try and get more comfortable – or so he told himself. He was already comfortable, couldn't not be on such a huge, high quality bed, but telling himself it was for comfort made him less embarrassed by the fact that something as simple as Tony just _holding_ his cock while it hardened made him want to writhe against the sheets.

Tony kept moving his fingers slowly, holding Steve's cock without stroking, just letting it rest in his hand way past the point where Steve was hard. He just knelt over Steve with his fingers curled loosely around Steve's cock, his other hand rubbing small circles against the tender crease where his thigh met his torso, against Steve's lower stomach, his inner thigh. It made Steve's world shrink, took away the knowledge that the room and the bed were huge, the understanding that a whole wide world existed outside. There was nothing more than Pepper's hand in his hair, Tony's fingers on his cock.

Steve moved again, with a soft “mmh,” through his nose as he did his best to stop his hips flexing up – not yet, not yet, Tony would tell him when – and he tried to keep his breathing steady, tried to wait it out. It didn't work, skin starting to tingle where Tony held it, the beginnings of something like desperation curling upwards inside of him.

“Do you want this?” Tony murmured.

The answer was out of his mouth before he had time to rationalize it, before he even understood what it meant. He was so tired, so sore, and all he wanted right at that moment was to forget about everything he’d had to deal with, pretend the rest of the world really didn’t exist and spend as long as he could with people who really wanted nothing more than to make him feel good. “Yes,” he gasped.

Tony shifted, leaning over to kiss him briefly once more, and then he let go, shifting down the bed, dragging his hands down Steve’s body to kiss his stomach.

“Oh, but-” Steve gasped, and then it was Pepper’s mouth on his own instead as Tony started to scatter small kisses across his hips and thighs.

“Shhh,” Pepper murmured against his mouth between kisses. “Just let us take care of you.”

Kissing Pepper sideways on was unusual, but it wasn’t unpleasant – far from it – it was something entirely new, something he’d never have thought of really, and the way Pepper’s lips felt this way brought a fresh sensation into it. Not to mention the fact that Pepper was a fantastic kisser – as passionate and thorough as she could be slow and calculating. Every time Steve needed to breathe, Pepper knew, every time he needed more, Pepper gave it to him. With soft lips and probing tongue, Steve felt his anxiety dissolving. He had missed them, had needed them, had wanted to be kissed like this for a long time and, without the ability to see, he kept his eyes closed when she pulled away in case the blindfold proved too much for him.

He managed to stop thinking about the blindfold and the darkness when she started sucking at his collarbone, her tongue hot against his skin and wet where Steve’s skin was dry, and she followed the sharp angle up to Steve’s throat and back again while she kept her hands busy on his skin – the casual touches were going to kill him. Somehow they were more than Tony with his deft hands or Pepper with her soft mouth – it was a deeper level of touch, of comfort, that they both would just put their hands on him. 

She moved her mouth over Steve’s chest and started to suck lightly, just enough to bring the blood to the surface, not enough to mark. Not yet.

And when Tony closed his fist around Steve’s cock, hot and tight, Steve groaned and shuddered, automatically trying to reach for Pepper, or for Tony – for one of them, even if his brain wasn't working enough to tell him which would be easier – searching for something to anchor himself to. The ropes stopped him short with a jolt and a clunk of the bedframe, and that sent a thrill down his spine as pleasure crept through his blood.

“Still okay?” Pepper sat up to murmur against his ear, stroking warm hands over Steve’s skin, and he felt her so clearly that he was sure he’d know her fingerprints by the time they were done.

“Y-Yeah,” Steve breathed without a moment’s hesitation, and Pepper kissed him again, sliding her hands into Steve’s hair, too, to cradle his head with one hand.

“Good,” Tony said, and Pepper scratched her nails over one of his nipples, sensation flaring hot and bright behind Steve's eyelids.

Steve arched his back as his hips tried to snap up of their own accord, but Tony put his weight on Steve's thighs to keep him still as he rolled Steve’s balls in the palm of his other hand. Steve tried to gasp, finding himself foiled when Pepper sucked the air from him, and he was so lost in the light-headedness, so consumed by the sensations, that his body couldn't figure it out.

Pepper seemed to know exactly what Steve was going to do before he did it, slowing the movements of her lips and tongue just long enough to let him breathe, before stealing the breath he’d taken anyway. He didn’t bother to stop the soft sounds of contentment that rolled up from the back of his throat, barely aware of Pepper’s fingers scratching over his chest over the hum under his skin, and yet dimly aware that the pain he could feel was just the right side of _yes._

“Good, Steve,” Tony rumbled.

Tony, Steve understood, knew what he was doing and always had, and he paused a while to work the head of Steve’s cock, drawing his rapidly-tightening balls down as he did, drawing it out as long as he could. Tony chuckled low in his throat when Steve tried unsuccessfully to ease the ache that was growing inside of him by pushing up against Tony’s hand, and Tony stopped completely aside from rubbing the slit with his thumb, spreading the precome gathering at the head and slicking the movement with it until Steve whined. Then he started fisting Steve’s cock again.

Tony didn't let up for a second after that, but Pepper drew away again and moved, her hair brushing his skin as she bent her head. Without knowing specifically what she was doing, without knowing where to expect her touch, his whole body anticipated it, thrumming with the kind of energy he longed to spend. She swirled her tongue around his nipples and he bit back a moan, turning his face against his arm again. He could feel his skin tingling as it heated, could feel the prickling outbreak of sweat on his throat and chest as heat flushed across his body and he jerked when Pepper nipped him, moaned when she held one nipple between her teeth and tugged lightly, increasing the pressure little by little as she supported her weight with one arm across his chest.

Steve had time for the thought that he desperately wanted Tony inside of him before Pepper let go quite suddenly, and the after-ache had barely set in before she was soothing with his tongue again. Steve squirmed, trying to get a little closer, so she left him completely, blowing across the skin he’d been sucking at. Steve sort of gasped, a shaky, fractured thing, and he shivered as the cold seemed to force sparks into him, a stinging pleasure that wound him tighter. And then Pepper descended on him again, replacing the cold with the wet heat of her mouth that held sparks all of its own.

It couldn't have been more than a week that he'd been away, but a week was enough and now that Tony was stroking him while Pepper was busy sucking – and still occasionally biting, much to his surprised enjoyment – his nipples, he could have predicted what happened next.

He attempted to tell Tony to stop, tried to tell him he was too close, but as soon as he voiced a shaky “Tony,” his warnings were muffled by Pepper’s mouth on his own. He would have grabbed at Tony, would have slapped the mattress, but his brain went blank, ropes keeping his wrists above his head.

He moaned into Pepper’s mouth as he came, tipping his head right back, his spine bowing as he did, and he felt the stinging pleasure of it right into his fingers and toes – although that might have had something to do with the ropes. Tony kept right on going, wringing him out completely, and Pepper managed to pinch his nipple just as it happened, following immediately with gentle fingertips as Steve arched up to meet her.

Neither of them gave Steve any choice but to ride it out, and he moaned helplessly into Pepper’s mouth, body convulsing as he tried to make it stop, or keep it going, he couldn't really tell. 

Tony laughed, just laughed, and only when Pepper stopped kissing him to let him breathe, stroking his face and neck, pushing the strands of hair off his forehead, did Tony stop, too. Steve couldn’t do anything except lie there, eyes closed behind the blindfold as Pepper sat back, chest heaving.

“Good?” Tony asked, and he nodded slowly, wetting lips that had dried while he'd been gasping for breath. 

“Mmyeah,” he breathed, shuddering a little when Pepper smoothed her palm up his tricep and back. “Yeah.”

She laughed lightly, moved a little and Tony moved too, leaning forward over Steve.

He could hear them kissing above him, and felt cloth on his stomach without any warning. It startled him enough that Tony apologized for it, cleaning Steve up with slow, leisurely strokes. Where he'd gotten a cloth from, Steve had no idea, but it didn't really matter.

“N-ah,” although Steve was pretty sure, given Tony's low chuckle, that he'd swiped over the head of Steve's cock deliberately. “No, that's too...too much.”

“Okay, honey,” Tony answered, and Steve started to make some attempt to slow his breathing. “Pep, did you wanna...?”

Steve didn't have to see to know what he was indicating, and he frowned a little.

“What about you?” he said, and he could practically _feel_ Tony's shrug. 

“I come once and I'm done for the night – I'll wait. You up for another round?”

Steve laughed a little, sounding slightly hysterical to his own ears, and rubbed his face against his arm to try and get rid of the sweat on his forehead and his upper lip. “Not yet,” he answered. “But I will be if you are.”

“Oh, sweetheart,” Tony answered, his voice a low rumble that seemed to thrum under Steve's skin even now, so soon after such a high, “we're just getting started.”

~

Steve smiled just a little, in that sweet, bashful way he had, chest still rising and falling a little more quickly than normal, and the sweat that glittered on his skin was just as enticing as the picture he presented. 

Arms raised over his head, creamy triceps displayed either side of the sharp, black tie that covered his eyes, his lips were already red and his skin was already flushed. He was fair-skinned, though far from delicate, and the shape of his body – broad shoulders and well-muscled chest, thick torso and beautiful narrow hips just to start with – was something she could easily appreciate the aesthetics of. He liked to draw, so he said, and Tony liked to build, so she knew that they were both experts in aesthetics. She liked to consider herself somewhat of an expert too – their collection of paintings, for example, had been procured mainly by her own hand. 

And boy did Steve look good like this.

Tony had the type of body you wanted to explore – little scars and and marks that each held a story of their own, twists and curves that were deceptive, lines that hid power. Steve's was the kind you wanted to frame – the perfect specimen, flawless, raw and young and new. Not for the first time, she looked at the muscles in his arms and chest and stomach, looked at the frankly _gorgeous_ proportionality of his cock and wanted to follow each one, to find and memorize, to find out for herself how they fit, where they lay. “You make me want to learn things,” she said, following the line down the center of his abdominal muscles with the tip of her finger.

“Me?” Steve said hesitantly, and she ran one fingernail in a wide circle around his navel. 

“You,” she answered, and he could probably hear the smile in her voice. 

“How to educate virgins?” he said, and Tony huffed a startled laugh – jokes were usually Tony's thing, not Steve's.

“How you work,” she answered instead, lowering her voice, spreading her fingers out in the center of his torso, marveling at how small her hand looked on his body. “Where you start and where you end.”

His smile faltered as his mouth opened a little wider, as he arched just enough that she felt him move under the palm of her hand. “Here,” he said, his voice barely more than a whisper. “Right here.”

She hummed through her nose, smiling down at him, and rested her hand on his cheek – a movement he leaned his head into immediately, rubbing his cheek against her hand. She glanced back at Tony – who was watching them with his eyes dark, lids heavy, his mouth slightly open. When he realized she'd turned, he raised his eyebrows a little, grinning, and she nodded at the obvious bulge in the front of his pants. _You need a hand with that?_

He shook his head, pointing at her instead, _you next_ , and she wasn't about to turn such a generous offer down, especially not when he pointed at the nightstand. _Lube_.

“Steve,” he said softly, leaning over toward the nightstand, “I'm just getting something out of the drawer.”

“Mmm-hmm,” he sighed, nodding a little, and it said a lot about him that he didn't even ask what that something was. 

“And then it's Pepper's turn,” Tony said. 

She flashed him her best fondly-amused glare, and Steve shifted against the pillow. “How?”

Pepper fished the lube out of the nightstand drawer and passed it to Tony – Steve wasn't comfortable with the idea of anyone but Tony prepping him yet and, as much as she really wanted to try it at some point, as much as she wanted that kind of vulnerability in Steve for herself, she was quite content to let him get to it in his own time – and Tony just raised an eyebrow.

“How do you think?” he said, and Steve, for all that his eyes were covered, managed a 'Seriously, Tony?' expression that was remarkably clear. 

“I mean,” Steve answered, pausing a little when Tony knelt up and swung his leg back, getting off Steve's thighs, “I mean, _how_.”

“Thank you for clearing that up,” Tony said, and Pepper threw one of her rolled up stockings at him. It hit him in the face and he chuckled.

“I have my hands tied,” Steve said, “don't tell me there's nothing I can do for you with my hands tied except lie still and take it.”

Pepper leaned right down, and she knew he'd know she was there because her hair was still loose about her shoulders, and brought her lips to his ear, smiling when she _saw_ goosebumps prick up all over his skin. “As appealing a thought as that is,” she said, a soft noise accompanying Steve's sharp intake of breath when she drew her hand up his torso onto his chest, “what would you suggest?”

And Steve wet his lips, craned his neck as he turned his head towards her – it was obvious what he wanted, and she saw no reason to withhold it, especially not now, kissing him with as much fervor as she could manage from such an angle. Steve, as always, kissed like his life depended on it, like he might disappear if she pulled away prematurely. 

And she supposed, from a guy who'd lost everything without even getting the chance to say goodbye, that was something else she could tolerate. Actually, tolerate was a little weak of a word to use – she and Tony would both have understood if he'd turned tail and run the second they indicated they wanted something more than the fragile friendship that had been so carefully crafted between them. The fact that he hadn't run was a testament to his resolve, and to his determination. But it had taken Steve a long time to let them both in the way the knew he wanted to. 

For months, he'd held back, kissed tentatively, waited for someone else to initiate anything – from holding hands to having sex – and he'd been nervous, jittery, quite obviously holding back. This, at least, proved that they were getting somewhere. He might not be completely comfortable around them yet – still hesitated over spontaneity, still stumbled over nakedness, still lingered in that uncertain state of confusion sometimes when he wasn't sure if he was really wanted – but he was beginning to open up. 

His kisses had turned from chaste to passionate, the tremor was ever more faint in his voice when he asked for what he wanted and sometimes, just sometimes, he'd ask for help when he needed it.

She waited until the movement of his lips had slowed, until he didn't feel so much like he was trying to keep her kissing him with all of his resolve – really, until she could tell that pulling away wouldn't leave him bereft – before she broke the kiss. His lips, even redder than usual now, were still parted, his breathing still not entirely back to normal, and she could see the frown on his face when, instinctively, he opened his eyes only to find himself still unable to see beneath the blindfold.

“Right?” he whispered, and she frowned down at him even though he couldn't see it. 

“What?” she asked, and he might have shrugged if his arms had been down. 

“You can just...” he said, and then he wet his lips again. Pepper looked back at Tony – who was now standing by the foot of the bed – and he shrugged. “Please?” Steve said, squirming a little more, and she narrowed her eyes a little, trying to figure him out.

“What, Steve?” she said quietly. “What do you want?”

He actually held his breath then, color spreading across his cheeks, down the sides of his neck before he tried to explain. “I-I mean, I...you...” He didn't enjoy trying to voice some things, that she knew. _I want you_ and _come to bed with me_ were a lot easier for Steve than voicing the same kind of _I want you in me_ and _you have a really nice ass_ that Tony could come out with. Which was sweet, but it could cause a problem or two when Steve positively _couldn't_ say what he wanted to.

Like right now, for example.

“Kissing,” he said hesitantly, “kissing is good, right? I can...so...”

And then, quite abruptly, Tony got it – Pepper could practically see the light bulb over his head. “You mean your mouth,” he said. “Does she want your mouth.”

Heat pooled between her legs, tight in the pit of her belly as a flush wormed its way up inside her, and Steve answered with a brief, “mmh,” his skin flushed pleasantly now.

She had to wet her lips to speak. “Do _you_ want me to?” she asked, mainly because neither she nor Tony could be absolutely sure that 'mmh' was an affirmative answer.

But Steve drew a deep breath, apparently more to steady himself than to prepare himself to speak, and he nodded sharply. “Yeah, I want...” he said, wrists twisting in the black rope loops, fingers curling and uncurling, “...you. That. Yeah.”

It was a good thing, really, that they'd waited long enough to do this that it was easy to read Steve. His expression a great deal of the time was mild discomfort. They'd both learned quickly that it was a default expression – the same way Clint looked like he was contemplating murdering everyone the majority of the time – and that, much of the time, when he looked _very_ uncomfortable, it was more to do with need than anything else. Exhaustion made him look irritated, hunger made him look a little angry and a little lost, and this, this combination of want and embarrassment wasn't usually so pronounced. But, as with anyone with a blindfold, Steve seemed to be paying less attention to his own expressions – that was part of the reason Pepper had wanted a blindfold in the first place.

He looked positively in pain now – although less in pain than he used to. Now, now that they'd all been doing this a while, his body seemed to have figured out the difference between pain and lust. Just about. Sort of.

“How?” she said eventually. “Want me to untie you?”

Steve shook his head, breathing picking up again. “No, you can just...uh...oh.”

“What?” Tony asked softly, still standing at the end of the bed to watch them both. 

“Kneeling,” Steve answered, “but my...arms are...”

Pepper chewed her lip a second. Yeah, actually – as appealing an idea as kneeling over him was, his arms were pretty huge. There'd be no way she could manage to stretch that far and still-

“Okay,” Tony said, and Pepper looked at him. “I got it, just trust me.”

“I trust you,” Steve said again, without hesitation, and Tony smiled. 

He threw the lube down on the bed – unopened, thank goodness – and turned around to walk out. 

“Wait-”

“I'm staying,” Pepper murmured, smoothing the sudden frown-lines on Steve's forehead with the pad of her thumb. “It's okay, he'll be right back.”

Steve squirmed a little more, fingers flexing still, and she reached up and followed the rope around his wrists with her fingers, making sure they were loose.

“Mmh,” he said again, rearranging his legs a little.

“Are you sure you're doing okay?” she asked, and his eyebrows went up as he nodded.

“Yeah,” he said, “yeah, I'm...I'm just fine.”

“You're still shaking,” she said, because he was, his legs and his breathing, mainly. “You don't have to do any of this if you don't want to.”

“It's okay, I'm just...nervous still.” He lifted his head off the pillow a little way, craned his neck enough that he seemed to be actively searching for her. “And I want to but...one eye?” he said. “N-Not for long, I just-”

“Sure,” she nodded, reaching out to push the blindfold up on one side. “Let me know if you want to take it off.”

He smiled but shook his head, forehead creasing as she uncovered one of his eyes, squinting in the sudden light. “I'm okay.” He lifted his head a little more, enough that tendons in his neck stood out a little, and she slid her hand under his head to take the weight of it, leaning down to kiss him.

“You promise to tell us if you're not?” she said, settling her free hand on his waist as she stared at him. 

“I think you'd probably know,” he answered. “But I'll tell you anyway.”

“You promise?” she asked, and he smiled, actually smiled at her – which eased the anxiety a little.

“I promise,” he said, craning his neck for another kiss just as Tony came back in with maybe five pillows from the couch in the main room. 

“Oh, good plan,” Steve said, and Tony raised one eyebrow.

“Call me blind or call me crazy,” he said, “but I'm pretty sure he can see.”

“Don't call him a genius for nothin',” Steve muttered conspiratorially, and did her absolute best not to laugh. Tony threw a cushion as he mock-frowned, and Steve didn't even flinch before it hit him in the face. “No, no, please,” he said, absolutely deadpan as it bounced off to one side. “Not the cushions.”

Tony narrowed his eyes. “Smartass,” he said, and Steve just smiled, as though Tony calling him a smartass were the greatest thing in the world.

“Seriously, though,” he said, “neither of you are getting undressed? You're gonna just...”

“We'll get there eventually,” Pepper told him, easing the blindfold back into place and ignoring the huff Steve gave her. “For now, just forget about us.”

“Nice try,” Steve said, “but I haven't been ticklish since the serum.”

She frowned, and looked down at the end of the bed to where Tony was playing with the soles of Steve's right foot. “Tony,” she admonished, and he shrugged. 

“Worth a shot,” he said. “Get comfortable, Cap.”

Steve wriggled a little, resettling his legs, shifting his shoulders a little.

“Your arms still okay?” she asked as he turned his wrists in the rope loops, and he nodded.

“Just fine,” he answered, keeping still when Tony brought the pillows up to the head of the bed.

“Lift your head,” Tony said, and Steve lifted his head as much as he could, enough that Tony could get one of the cushions underneath it. That kept his head raised a little way, and she bit her lip at the implication of that. Tony saw her, must have seen her, because he leaned over and stole an absolutely _filthy_ kiss from her.

“What about me?” Steve said, and Pepper laughed into Tony's cheek as he turned his head away to scoff.

Tony leaned down to kiss Steve, and Pepper followed, watching them both carefully. 

She'd known Tony a long time, but it was only in the past few years that seeing him kiss someone else made her chest ache. She'd identified the feeling as jealousy maybe six months before they'd taken that inevitable final step into a relationship, but she'd never felt jealous with Steve.

Tony, all olive skin and facial hair, all laughter lines and experience, really was a beautiful contrast with the pale, fair, _youth_ of Steve – not that Tony was old. Just that Steve was earnest, and there was that desperation again, and his lips were so red and his skin so smooth, Tony's hands so gentle in his hair.

“I could watch you two all day,” she said, and Tony pulled away to smile down at Steve's face.

“I'd prefer it if you joined in,” Steve answered, and Tony's smile turned wry. He patted Steve's chest twice and sat up again before he went back to positioning cushions along the outsides of Steve's arms.

They both knew that Steve's head was easy to kneel over but both his arms (and both his _biceps_ )? Not so much. The cushions would give her somewhere to kneel without her having to stretch, would raise Steve's head that extra inch or two so that he wouldn't have to stretch either.

“Does this mean you're gonna get undressed?” Steve asked hopefully, and Pepper stood up, climbed onto the bed. 

“Don't you worry about that,” she said, kneeling by his head. “Are you sure about this?”

He looked mildly irritated for a moment and then he inclined his head a little. “Would you just...” he said, clearly still struggling with how to word this, “get up here already?”

She reached out to settle her hands on the headboard, one knee on the cushions by Steve's arm, and hitched her skirt up before she swung her leg over his head, kneeling astride his face. With the cushions on either side of his arms, she had a little more clearance kneeling there than she'd expected – which meant she'd be able to have a little more control. She wouldn't need all of her weight on him, he'd be able to take a breather – probably literally – if he needed to.

He didn't do anything for a moment, breath warm against her inner thigh, and she almost jumped when he pressed a kiss to one, soft and warm and reverent, humming softly against her skin with a little thrum of sound that worked its way up with the kind of tingle she wanted more of. She looked down at where his blond hair was still visible past the hem of her skirt, and she ran her fingers through it, sinking her teeth into her lower lip as she held her breath.

“You know,” he said, his voice a little quieter, his breath warm against her in the _best possible place_ , “I can hold my breath for seven minutes.”

The first brush of his lips was tentative, and she was hard-pressed to keep her hips still, fingers tightening on the headboard. He wasn't old-hat at this yet, the way that Tony was, but he wasn't bad at it either. Not by a long shot.

He started slow, the tease, barely doing anything but breathing against her, tongue curling out occasionally and following the same pattern; he wasn't licking up inside of her yet, although she knew he could. Instead, he was following the gentle curve of her body, up the hard ridge and _around_ her clitoris, so that she anticipated pleasure with every movement of his tongue, and didn't get it.

She let her legs slide outward a little more, listening carefully for any sign that he might want to stop, tipping her head back as her mouth fell open when he switched to long, leisurely strokes of his tongue that were soft and felt fabulously decadent, still light and teasing.

“Ohh,” she said softly, letting her eyes close as she leaned back, and she heard Tony make an appreciative noise, too. 

“Hmm,” Steve responded, and she clenched down tight on nothing with a gasp, the vibration of his voice – low and rich and smooth – almost as good as the slow sweeping glide of his tongue against her. He wasn't moving fast, either, drawing it out as though he'd take his own sweet time about it and enjoy every second. 

He curled his tongue up against the ridge of her, his nose not-quite bumping her clitoris, and she lowered one hand to his hair, threaded her fingers through it in encouragement to guide him better, to try and get his mouth where she needed it, clenching down again, but he didn't seem to get the message. She shifted her hips a little, thought it might be accidental, might be that he didn't really know what he was doing, until she moved again to try and get his mouth a little higher, to try and get him to focus on it.

With expertise she still hadn't really expected, he moved a little more, the tip of his tongue drawing circles around it without giving her the pressure or the friction she wanted, and her toes curled a little as she let her hips lower a little.

“Steve,” she said, pulling his head a little closer with the hand in his hair, and he actually chuckled at her, tilting his head back against the hand in his hair before he _moved_ , sealing his lips over her clitoris and sucking _hard_. “Steve!”

“Good?” Tony asked from somewhere behind her, and she let her back arch, let her hips grind down just a little as Steve turned his head minutely, left to right. “Just me, Steve.”

Pepper didn't really understand why Tony was explaining who he was to Steve but she cared less and less with each passing second – she'd find out afterwards. The hard wood of the headboard was already making her fingertips ache, and part of her was really, really glad she'd taken off all of her underwear – the crisp cotton blouse was still cool on the skin of her breasts, just enough to brush over her nipples as Steve pressed his tongue to her clitoris inside the seal of his lips and licked at her like that, his rhythm fast and hard without any of the build-up she'd expected from such a leisurely start.

“Oh-” she managed, pulling against the headboard with her free hand to get a little leverage as she eased her hips forward, pushing against Steve's mouth – and then Steve _jerked_ underneath her with a sharp breath in through his nose, sending a jolt of pleasure right up her spine so that she clenched down again, his hands suddenly in fists within the ropes.

“Atta boy,” Tony murmured and, when she managed to twist enough to look back over her shoulder, she saw Tony kneeling between Steve's legs, with one of Steve's legs over his shoulder. The other was bent and out to one side, Tony's hand busy between them, lower down than Steve's already-hard-again cock. So _that_ was why he'd warned Steve.

“Mmmm,” Steve answered, a little more plaintively this time, the sound breaking halfway through and _God_ it felt good, the vibration traveling not only through his tongue – and she still had the presence of mind to be impressed by the fact that he'd kept his rhythm – but up through her too, spreading out inside of her with a delicious warmth that made her clench down _again_.

“Next time I want your fingers,” she said breathlessly, missing the fullness of something inside of her.

Her face was warm, and she could already feel her hair start to drag against skin that was starting to sweat, but she didn't miss the way Steve's breathing picked up, the way the tremor in him strengthened. He moaned, breaking the seal of his lips to lap greedily at her, and she laughed half in shock and half in delight as he jerked again, breathing hard against her this time with a warm rush of air against slick, sensitive skin. He didn't wait long before reforming his seal, flicking her clitoris with his tongue, sucking it between his teeth when he rocked his head from side to side with just enough movement that she grabbed at his hair with one hand to hold his head close, the soft, gold strands brushing the inside of her thighs. 

“Oh, that's...” she whispered, swallowing hard before she could manage to look down, not that she saw much when she did.

He drew away a little, too, still sucking her flesh into his mouth, and the beautiful ache of it made her hips cant down of their own accord, made her breathing falter suddenly, so that she gave a small cry the next time he jerked under her.

“Tony, how many?” she threw breathlessly back over her shoulder, and Tony hummed through his nose before he answered.

“Two,” he said, “you oughta _see_ this, he just takes whatever I give him.”

Steve moaned again, higher and longer this time though not by much, and Pepper moaned with him this time, the hum of it stinging beautifully behind her clitoris, hot and deep inside of her, and stretching tendrils of pleasure a good long way down her thighs. 

She curled her toes so tightly that it hurt the balls of her feet, and still didn't really care. “That's good,” she said, trying to keep her voice level and failing miserably, “oh, that's good, Steve, that's so good-”

He made a noise that was closer to a sob than a word, elbows bending as he pulled against the ropes, and she dropped her other hand to his head, too, tugging him closer as she started rocking into each roll of his tongue, each press of his mouth against her. 

He just sucked harder, and she hissed through her teeth as her hips snapped forward, wondering briefly if that was taking things too far until he pushed up against her, humming long and low as his rapid breathing expanded his chest and his shoulders between her legs, and she wasn't going to last long if he kept this up. 

“That good?” Tony said. 

“Oh, I-” she answered, pausing to squeeze her eyes shut, mouth forming an 'o' of overwhelmed shock as Steve gave a particularly hard – and well-timed – shake of his head. “ _Uhn,_ recommend it,” she managed, just as Tony laughed.

“Shame he can't get his hands on you,” he answered.

“Wants to,” she panted, looking down at his hands, his fingers curling and uncurling, twisting in the rope loops. “Don't you, baby?”

“Mmmm,” he answered, and she did her best not to squeeze her legs around his head but he wasn't exactly making it easy. 

Her toes were still curled, her fingers still white-knuckled in his hair but, if anything, he seemed to enjoy being wrenched so close and held there because he didn't let up for a second, not even when Tony said, “ready for a third?” The answering shudder and moan told her Tony had given it without waiting for a response, and Steve moaned helplessly at her, letting her crush him to her as she felt the first prickling waves of sensation between her legs.

“Steve,” she said, trying to make it sound like a warning, but it sounded more like a plea even to her own ears. “Steve, oh, Steve, _Steve_ -”

And he was ready for her, too, relaxed completely as her thighs tightened around his head, kept his rhythm going as her hips snapped forward once, twice, orgasm like a heartbeat between her legs, right under his mouth, drawn out until it reached her fingers and her toes, and she was keening at him before she thought to try and keep it down a little.

He kept her going, on and on through the thudding clench of the aftershocks, until her thighs loosened about his head and arms again, until her fingers slipped out of his hair and his head fell back onto the pillow, and she rolled away from him to give him room to breathe. 

As soon as she was clear of him, he arched his back and moaned, and she got her first good look at what Tony was doing. Three slick fingers inside Steve, one of Steve's legs over his shoulder, Tony's skin was flushed, his eyes dark and his lips parted, and he was hard as hell inside his suit trousers. 

She turned her head on the pillow to look at Steve, who she might have said looked in pain if she didn't know for a fact he was at the complete opposite end of the scale.

“Pe-Pepper?” he breathed, body shuddering as Tony twisted his fingers, and she pushed herself up enough to lean over him, to kiss him. He kissed back, just as hungrily as he'd sucked at her before, and she drew her hand over his nose and mouth when she pulled away, wiping her hand on the sheets. 

“So good,” she said against his neck, reaching down to give his cock a pull or two while Tony worked his fingers deeper, “thank you, baby, thank you-”

 _“Pepper,”_ Steve whined, fully hard again now, and his hips flexed upwards – a movement that Tony and Pepper both followed with clever hands – before he lifted his head, dropped it back against the pillow and moaned desperately,“Tony, one of you, “ _please_ -”

“Shh,” Pepper answered, letting go of his cock to stroke his cheek instead. “Nearly there. Tony, where are the-”

“Under the-” he got as far as before she was sliding her hand under Steve's pillow. 

“Got it. Steve, do you want me to put the condom on you?”

“Oh, Pepper,” he answered, sounding relieved, “please, yeah, I-” and she kissed him, long and slow and deep and then sat back as Tony withdrew his fingers with a sound that made the blush on Steve's skin darken considerably. 

“Hey,” Tony said. “Throw me one of those?”

~

He caught the condom Pepper threw at him and held it between his teeth while he wiped his fingers on his pants. Pepper gave him a look for it but what did it matter? This suit was heading for dry-cleaning anyway and there was no way he was wasting time fetching tissues. 

He shucked his shirt easily enough, pants and boxers following soon after and wow, it wasn't like he hadn't known how hard he was but he had severely underestimated just what it would feel like to have his cock spring back and hit him in the stomach when he was this hard. Also, he discovered about two seconds later, he really should have taken off his shoes. 

Pepper laughed. “What are you _doing_?” she chuckled and Tony narrowed his eyes as he tried to keep his balance. 

“I am taking off my clothes,” he answered, although it would have come out sounding more like words if he hadn't had a condom in his mouth.

“He's _what?”_ Steve asked breathlessly, evidently confused by the lack of discernable English in Tony's string of sounds, and also probably by the fact that there wasn't actually much blood in his brain at this point. 

Pepper laughed harder. “He's taking off his clothes,” she answered, amused enough that the words came out a little longer.

Steve made an odd little whine at that, wrists turning in the ropes, fingers flexing, and Tony fumbled with the pants for a few more seconds before he managed to shove his shoe off one foot get his leg out. “That was way harder than it should have been,” he said, and Steve grunted in the back of his throat.

“Do you know what _else_ is way harder than it should be?” he said, but Pepper cocked her head. 

“I don't know,” she said softly, giving his cock another tug. “Looks about right to me.” He made that really cute just-punched-in-the-gut noise, and kind of folded up in the middle for a second, and Tony managed to get his other shoe off to point at Steve. 

“Cushions,” he said, taking the condom out of his mouth, tearing the foil open.

“Are we just naming things now?” Steve muttered and, yeah, if he wasn't confused and halfway to delirious, he was certainly doing a good imitation of it. Chest pink, face pink, hands white in the ropes, cock hard, and Pepper sitting right there with her hand on him – damn but they made a pretty picture. She was still a little pink, too, her forehead glittering.

“Pass me the cushions,” Tony answered, biting his lip to roll the condom on, and Pepper used her free hand to throw him one, to throw him another. He caught them just about, the foil wrapper drifting to the floor because he hadn't had time to discard it before he needed his hands for cushion catching, and then he reached out, grabbed Steve's ankle-- and nearly lost an eye. “Jesus, Steve!”

“Sorry!” Steve answered, chest rising and falling rapidly as he tried to calm himself, and the bedframe creaked a little ominously, . “Just don't _do_ that, okay? Golly, give me some kind of warning or something-”

“Sorry,” Tony answered, smoothing his hand up Steve's shin and just maybe pushing his leg outwards a little. “I'm sorry, honey, I tend to get distracted.”

Steve clenched his jaw – he had two ways of doing it; one said 'we need to get these civilians out' and could also mean 'I am angry and disappointed,' and the other one, the one he was doing now, said 'stop using the fact that you amuse me against me.' Steve had never been good at accepting compliments – he preferred to turn them around, to deflect or to absorb it as a kind of duty. There was no problem when someone thanked Captain America, when someone said Captain America looked good in his uniform. But tell Steve that he looked nothing short of _divine_ once you managed to get him naked and spread out on your mattress, and suddenly he was mister shy. 

“Don't tighten up, baby,” Tony told him, watching Steve's cock twitch when Pepper let go. Unless you want me to loosen you up again?”

Pepper unwrapped a condom for Steve, shuffling down the bed a little to get it on him.

“As appealing as that- ah- _aah-_ is-”

“Y'okay there, soldier?” Tony smirked, and Steve just sighed as Pepper unrolled the condom down his length, stroking once or twice.

“Tony just...” Steve said, squirming in his ropes now. And Tony knew he could get out, knew he could easily break the ropes or the bed if he wanted, and yet here he was, naked and stretched out for them, mouth open, lips swollen. 

“Did you want something?” Tony asked.

“Tony,” Pepper said, stroking Steve's chest instead of his cock, just as Steve groaned at him.

“I need...” Steve said, and he was practically writhing on the bed.

Something he and Pepper had both noticed – and hey, maybe one day they'd bring it up with Steve, too – he might have been six foot of smooth skin and muscle but he was still that little guy from Brooklyn when it came down to it. Still squirmed around like he'd forgotten he could snap necks and bend steel, still bit his lip like he didn't know he could say what he wanted, still gasped and shook like there was too much for such a small frame – even though he wasn't small at all these days. Didn't matter that he was a supersoldier, he still came like a little guy, and getting him there was just a much fun.

Tony knelt back on the bed and shuffled up against Steve, slid his hands up Steve's legs, coaxing them open again – that was something else, too. Steve didn't seem to understand just how gorgeous he was this way. Or any way – and then settled between them, grabbing at the cushions. 

“Tony,” Steve said again, chewing his lower lip, pulling against the ropes, and Pepper ran her hand through his hair, stroked her fingertips over his cheek, slid her palm down his chest. Steve gasped like he'd almost drowned, a full-body shudder vibrating the bed, and he tipped his head back with a moan. “ _In_ me,” he rasped, and Tony grinned at him – never mind that Steve's pretty baby blues were all covered up, Tony would damned well smirk if he wanted to. 

“Up,” Tony said, and Steve tensed his limbs, twisted, did his best to raise his hips when Tony managed to get one arm, and then the two cushions, under his hips. “Good.”

Steve hummed through his nose again, turning his face towards his arm, arching his back as Tony extracted his arm to settle his hands on Steve's hips, dragging them down. Steve spread his legs on his own this time, lifting them to hug Tony's waist.

“Ready?” Tony asked, and Steve nodded, breathing hard through his open mouth. 

Pepper sat up a little straighter, looked down at Steve's cock and then craned her neck to see Tony's. She raised one eyebrow, lips twisted in a grin as Tony jerked his head in a _come-here_ kind of way, and then, satisfied Pepper had cottoned on, he started easing his hips forward.

Steve hissed a breath in through his teeth, mouth falling open again as his brow furrowed, body going bowstring tight as his legs tightened around Tony's body.

“U-Ugh, To _-ony_ , ah!” And Tony shouldn't have chuckled but it was so damned hard not to – even now, even after months, Steve still wasn't used to this, still didn't expect for it to feel “so _good_ , Tony, _oh_ ,” and he wasn't loud. Nothing about Steve in the bedroom could be called loud so far, but he spoke a lot even though he spoke softly. “Tony, Tony, _please_ , I....oh...”

“Shh,” Tony soothed, stroking one of Steve's thighs with the palm of his hand, “slow down a little there.”

Pepper had managed to shuffle around on the bed a little before she realized it wasn't going to work, and the next time she stood up it was to _stand_ on the bed. When she gave him her _are you sure_ look, he nodded, and she did a spectacular job of not falling over when she lifted on foot over Steve's raised hips. Really, Tony figured, she should be okay like that – her legs would be long enough that she could kneel over Steve without too much trouble.

“P-Pepper?” Steve asked, his voice small and shaky, and she knelt down astride him just as Tony came to rest inside of him, settling one hand on his stomach.

With the other, she reached between her legs and wrapped her fingers around him to guide his cock, looking back over her shoulder at Tony as she did.

Tony kissed her because he couldn't resist it, grabbed her head with his free hand and kissed her as deeply as he could from this angle, and he knew the exact moment she sank onto Steve because he bucked under both of them, hips pushing up, forward, a half-aborted movement that made it clear his body still couldn't decide what to do. He gave a small _“huh- ah-”_ of sound, his body bowing inward, and then his back arched and he was throwing his head back into the pillow.

“Good?” Pepper asked, and Tony laughed breathlessly into her ear, watching as she smoothed her hands up Steve's stomach to his chest, and back again, repeating the movement when he arched into her touch. 

“So good,” he whispered, stretching out as she smoothed her hands up again.

“Hmm, you're tense,” she said, and Tony almost laughed again – if Steve hadn't been tense from work, he'd sure as hell be tense now – but Tony knew Pepper's style, knew exactly what she was going to do, and he settled himself on his knees, shuffling until he could kneel relatively comfortably. “Let's see if we can do something about that.”

Steve's brow furrowed, a soft sound escaping him, and she leaned forward, smoothing her hands up his chest and stomach to his shoulders, stroking as far up his arms as she could reach before stroking back down the sides of his torso, avoiding the bruises with practiced care. It was good, Tony knew that, she was good at this, good at working muscle under hands that always looked too slender to be so strong, good at finding each knot and soothing every ache, but like this it was futile; meant to tease – for every line of tension she followed and eased, the fact that he was _inside her_ as she moved only worked up more. Tony guessed that being in Steve himself probably wouldn't help, but he wasn't about to back off now. That was the whole point.

Steve stretched up to meet her the next time, whining when she found a knot in his _chest_ of all places – and this was part of the reason she was so good, always knowing to take her time – digging her fingertips in just below his right nipple. His breath hitched, and he kept as still as he could, and he made a sound a few moments later as though all the air had been punched out of him.

“What was that one?” she said softly, and he took a half-aborted breath, and then took another one.

“Had to...carry...”

“Someone,” she finished for him. “And this is your gun-hand side, too.”

_“Hyeah- Uhn-”_

The next one took some finding, and some working, with Steve moaning all the way, and then she made three strokes upward and two back before she settled her hand over the bruise. “Got one here,” she said. “Want me to wait until tomorrow?”

“Pepper,” Steve answered, gasping a little as her fingertips whitened on his bruised skin, just enough pressure that it would hurt.

“That's not nice,” Tony said, without heat in his words, and the next moan Steve gave caught in the back of his throat. “Unless it _is_ nice?”

“I can't...” Steve answered. “I can't _tell_...”

Pepper went back to smoothing her hands up his stomach and chest, changing her track to come back down the same way, and Steve's hips shifted a little. “Please, please-”

She ran her fingertips around his navel and cocked her head, and Tony momentarily lost the incredible view he had of Steve. “Want us to move?” she said.

Steve just moaned in response, and Tony waited for another kiss from Pepper before he went along with it – long, slow, smooth strokes that made Steve sound like he was trying to turn himself inside out. 

Pepper stroked Steve's skin – all the skin she could reach – and Steve pulled a little harder at his ropes, twisting against them both, tipping his head back and lifting it, arching his back and curing his body, legs spreading wider and then hugging tighter – with everything he did it was as though his body couldn't decide whether it wanted to get away or wanted more. 

Pepper leaned back against Tony because she could, and she fished around until she found his hands, lifting them to cup her breasts through her shirt. “Mmm,” she hummed, and Steve bit his lip, head rocking forwards again. 

“Wait,” he said, suddenly – a sound Tony definitely did not want to hear but had been listening for nonetheless, “wait, please, I-”

“What?” Tony asked, as Pepper froze. “What is it?”

And Tony really, really didn't want to stop now but he wanted to upset Steve even less – if they'd messed up somehow, if they'd taken what Steve had so trustingly given them and screwed it up-

“See,” he said on a breath, the words running together in a groan, “please, I wanna see, wanna see...”

Tony let out the breath he didn't know he'd been holding. That was not as disastrous as he'd anticipated.

“Okay,” Pepper said placatingly, although Steve still moaned at her when she leaned forward to reach his blindfold. “It's all right, Steve, just-”

He shook his head as she shoved it upwards off his eyes, the black band of Tony's tie slipping off his head, and he squinted as his chest heaved, pulling ever more strongly at his ropes. Tony got a pretty good view of him over Pepper's shoulder and if he'd thought Steve looked attractive before, it was nothing compared to now. His lips were swollen, bitten red, and he kept on trying to wet them just because they were dry from the harsh breaths he was taking. But his eyes were dark, lashes sweeping low, and a flush stained his cheekbones and the bridge of his nose, the tops of his shoulders, his chest-

“Pepper,” he breathed, and Pepper leaned down to kiss him, making him moan again from the tighter angle where he rested inside her. 

When she sat up straight again, she lifted her arms so that they were folded behind her head, and Tony took it as his cue, sliding his hands around her waist, up her ribcage to cup her breasts. Steve wet his lips again, eyes following Tony's hands. He bit his lip when Tony squeezed them a little, squirmed when he rubbed his thumbs over her nipples – Steve knew what he was doing even with a layer of material between Pepper's nipples and his fingers, Tony could _see_ that he knew - and Tony started to undo her shirt buttons one by one, working his way down with Pepper's breathy laugh spurring him on.

When her shirt hung open, she flexed her hips forward, arching her back to push her breasts out. “Ready?” she asked, and Steve nodded again, lower lip caught between his teeth, eyes fixed on the strip of skin bared by her open shirt.

Like a Christmas gift or a million-dollar presentation, Tony smoothed his hands outwards across her ribcage, baring her breasts to the air of the bedroom.

Steve groaned, tighter around Tony's cock for a moment, hips flexing upwards as Tony toyed with one of Pepper's nipples. “You look so good,” Steve whispered, “you both, you looks so...”

Pepper chuckled to herself, low and throaty, and she brought her arms down from her head, covering Tony's hands with her own warm fingers as she knelt up astride him and sank back down and, credit to Steve – young and still new to this he might be, but he kept his eyes open, even if he couldn't quite curtail the choked off groan that welled up inside of him. She did it again, up and then down, slow and smooth, and he opened his mouth a little wider, tried to flex his hips up to meet her, swallowing hard as Tony drew back and thrust in. This time he rocked his head back, tendons in his neck drawing tight as he stretched out, still trying to get away, still trying to get closer.

“Steve?” she said, and oh Tony knew this trick, loved this trick, _this_ was why she kept her skirt on, she _always_ did this and he _always_ loved it and he wanted to see Steve's face, wanted to make sure he could see Steve loving it too.

When Steve managed to tip his head forward again, looking half-crazed by now, she let go of Tony's hands, reached down, and lifted the blue material of her skirt, and Tony knew it would be just enough that Steve would be able to see her sinking onto him, see himself disappear inside her as she knelt up and settled back. Steve's eyes darkened if that was even possible, a creak- _crack_ distracting Pepper for a second. Steve just growled low in his throat and lost whatever sort of uncertainty had lingered in his expression. “Darn it, I'll...I'll pay for that,” he said, and Tony could have laughed – even halfway through kinky sex (or kinky for Steve, at least), he was still worrying about paying for damage.

“Split the mattress in two, I don't care,” Tony answered instead. “On three.”

“Three?” Steve whispered, evidently trying to get his breath back, but Pepper only nodded, her fiery hair shifting across her shoulders, “but-”

 _“Three,”_ Pepper said, and then they were moving together, the way they always had done, Pepper kneeling up as Tony thrust forward, sinking back as Tony pulled back.

Steve gave a cry that Tony might actually call sharp – an “Oh!” of shock, that rung louder in Tony's ears than he'd anticipated – and then he was twisting under them, every breath a moan, trying desperately to keep his eyes on them but only able to manage it half the time. “ _Jeez_ ,” he spat, drawing a huge lungful of breath a moment later that shuddered the next time he keened it out again. 

Tony reared back enough to get Steve's leg up over his shoulder again and then he bit into the back of Pepper's shoulder enough to get her attention. “Hey,” he said anyway, and she kept right on riding Steve. 

“Ah-huh?” she answered, clearly thoroughly enjoying having Steve at her mercy (and he really was at her mercy, this whole thing was totally awesome and they were doing this again _soon_ because Tony wanted to see more of this – of Pepper owning Steve), and Tony lowered snaked his hand around her waist, dipped it down between her legs. 

“One more?” he asked, already searching with his fingertips, and she gave him an “mph,” of surprise when he found it. “There you are,” he said, and she leaned back against him, settling her back against his chest as well as she could with Steve's _leg_ between them.

“Go ahead,” she said, and Steve moaned at her, whined at her.

“Come on, sweetheart,” Tony answered, rubbing his fingers in small circles over the little nub of flesh, “one from each of us, huh?”

He could have done it with his eyes closed, and having his eyes open made it inexplicably easier to do despite the fact that he couldn't see from this angle; he managed somehow to get his thumb tucked up just above her clitoris, pulling the hood back enough that-

 _“Yes!”_ she gasped, just as Steve managed, “Oh, Jeez,” and Tony bit his lip, tried to keep some semblance of a rhythm while Steve moaned and Pepper moaned and Tony tried his best not to blow early. 

He rubbed hard and fast, fingers slick within seconds, and her hips shuddered forwards, Steve clenching tight around him. Tony squeezed his eyes shut and pressed his forehead to the back of her neck, his free hand on Steve's thigh up by his shoulder, anchoring himself and, most likely, Steve.

“Please let me see,” he said, and Tony couldn't tell if he knew he was speaking out loud, if he was speaking to one of them or just hoping in general.

She made a gorgeous little noise, half-stifled and half-choked, and Tony kissed the back of her shoulder, the nape of her neck, stretching to kiss under her ear. One of her hands covered his own and pressed down, pushing his fingers against her, and he followed her as best he could when her hips rolled and jerked, leaned forward with her when her body bowed inwards – she was always faster the second time around.

“I...” she said, drawing great lungfuls of air that pressed her body against him with each one, and Steve's leg twitched, muscles clamping tight around Tony's cock as Pepper went still for one long, seemingly endless moment.

And then she was shuddering against him, legs hugging Steve's hips, her own hips jerking back and shuddering forward again once, twice, and third time, Steve's body reacting so hard that Tony wasn't sure he hadn't come until he saw him, saw the desperate need in his eyes and the disbelief on her face.

“You're so,” he murmured, lips barely moving, and Tony only knew to stop rubbing when Pepper's fingernails dug into him, clawing at his hand to pull it away, and he grasped her around the waist instead, kissing her fiercely when she turned her head back towards him.

For a moment or two she sat still where she was, gasping against Tony's lips when he pulled away with her eyes closed and her hair a mess and a small smile turning one corner of her mouth. And then she turned her head away, dropped her chin onto her chest.

“I'm done, sweetheart,” she said, “I gotta stop.”

And Steve whined a little. Tony knew she wouldn't be able to stand now and, as carefully as he could, he reached down and tugged at one of the cushions under Steve's hips. It took a little careful coordination but he managed to pull it out and throw it somewhere, and tugging the second one free lowered Steve's hips enough that Pepper could kneel up – Steve whining at the loss of her heat around him – and roll to one side.

And the bed was big enough that she could just lie there, gasping, as Tony let Steve lower his leg.

“Whaddya say, soldier?” Tony murmured, staring down at the expanse of glittering skin that made for a near-exhausted supersoldier. It was always nice to know they could get Steve just as worn out as they were – even if they had to wait until he'd had a tough day to do it.

Steve wriggled a little, making Tony grit his teeth against the sudden burst of pleasure that Steve's movement brought with it, and the he tipped his head back.

“Just-” he said, tugging at the ropes around his wrists. “I want...Tony...”

Tony leaned right down, hands holding Steve's hips as firmly as it was possible to do so when the guy you were inside happened to be about four times as strong as you, and settled his mouth over Steve's chest, painting a long, wet line up Steve's sternum with the flat of his tongue and following through, up the column of Steve's throat as he readjusted them both to fit them closer. 

“My hands,” Steve gasped, tilting his head back to let Tony get at more skin, deciding better of it a moment later to kiss him hard.

And Pepper, wonderful, beautiful, glorious Pepper, was already unhooking the tail-loop from the headboard when Tony broke away to do it. 

Steve didn't even wait for her to undo the knots, looping his still-bound wrists over Tony's neck as soon as they were off the headboard, and he brought his legs up to Tony's ass, pulling him in, pulling him closer. “Do it,” he breathed, “ _do it_ , Tony, _now!_ ” 

And Tony didn't need to be told twice. Bracing himself on his forearms, one either side of Steve's head, he drew his hips back and snapped them forward, over and over, Steve's body like a vise around him. Steve didn't even try to hold back, keening at him, the rope tight on the back of Tony's neck, Steve's hands twisting in the loops to grab at his hair, forcing Tony's head up to kiss him.

One of Pepper's hands – had to be, Steve's were still in his hair – smoothed down Tony's spine through the sweat on his skin, fingers dipping between his cheeks to press against the tight ring of muscle and-

“Oh!” Tony managed. “Oh, _oh-_ ”

Steve, pent-up and and worked-up and wrung-out went oddly quiet, incredibly still, and then he twisted, hips bucking up against Tony's, before he threw his head back, back arching so hard that he _pushed Tony upwards_ with the movement, heels digging into Tony's ass as his fists clenched in Tony's hair.

 _“Tony!”_ he moaned, more of a drawn-out cry than a word, and even though he still had enough presence of mind not to yell it in Tony's ear, he was evidently pretty much out of it immediately – his eyes rolled back, his mouth went completely slack and the hard, tight flutter of muscle from Steve's orgasm dragged Tony's orgasm out of him immediately. 

Tony did _not_ manage to support his own weight, the heat and strength of Steve coming around him more than enough to completely wipe his brain and hey, he really should remember that in case he ever needed to lose all understanding of the world in the near future.

By the time he came back to himself, Steve was stroking one hand through his hair and the other was rubbing circles between his shoulderblades, and it took a second for Tony to realize that his face was mashed against Steve's rapidly-rising-and-falling chest.

“Damn,” he said softly, frowning, and Steve made a small kind of irritated noise at Tony's 'language.' “Sorry,” Tony said automatically, and Pepper brushed the hair off Tony's forehead.

“We need to get cleaned up,” she said softly, pushing herself up to kiss Steve – slowly this time – as Tony raised his head.

“Can it wait?” Steve muttered, and Tony figured they needed to do something with the condoms, should probably wash hands and _everything else_ actually, and preferably _before_ they started to get uncomfortable. 

But somehow he couldn't bring himself to get up. “You good?” he said instead, and Steve scoffed.

“Okay is an understatement,” he said, his words a little slurred. “I'm sorry about the headboard.”

“We'll get a new one,” Pepper answered, before kissing Tony this time. Tony watched her – and Steve watched her too – as she rolled off the bed and onto her feet to unzip, and shimmy out of, her skirt so that she stood naked. “Last one in the shower's Commodore 64.”

“Yeah but first one in is Internet Explorer,” Steve answered, and Tony stared at him. “What?”

Tony shook his head, kissed Steve because he could – and also partially to mask his surprise – and patted Steve's chest amicably. “Sorry for crushing you.”

“You're not in the suit, it's fine,” Steve answered as the water started running in the en-suite. “Although, hey, while I'm thinking about it.” He held up his wrists – one free and one still in the black rope loop. “Need a stronger anchor next time.”

Tony raised one eyebrow. “Next time?” he said, and Steve just laughed.

“Go get in the shower, genius,” he said.

**Author's Note:**

> Title taken from an alternative name for the 'True Lovers' Knot' - the 'Middleman's knot.' I figured it was symbolic :P


End file.
